Nov. 9--Credit the resurgence of the Carolina Panthers to an off-season visit to the memory bank.
The Panthers remembered what took them to a Super Bowl five years ago and spent the off-season trying to recreate the 2008 team in that image. Now physical football is back in Charlotte.
Marty Hurney worked for two NFL franchises before becoming general manager of the Carolina Panthers in 2002. He saw Joe Gibbs take the Redskins to Super Bowls in the 1980s with a power running game and watched the San Diego Chargers go to a Super Bowl in 1995 with another power rushing attack.
So Hurney knew the style of football he wanted to play at Carolina. That's one of the reasons he hired John Fox as head coach in 2002. Fox had been the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants, who went to the Super Bowl in 2001 with a physical running game and defense.
Hurney and Fox quickly built that type of team in Carolina, reaching the Super Bowl in the 2003 season with a top-10 rushing attack and defense.
The Panthers ran the ball a franchise-record 522 times that season -- handing it off 62 more times than they passed it. Stephen Davis finished seventh in the NFL in rushing with 1,444 yards, and the Panthers also built a defensive line that would produce three future Pro Bowlers: Julius Peppers, Kris Jenkins and Mike Rucker.
But the Panthers lost their identity after that success of 2003.
An injury to Davis two games into the 2004 season transformed Carolina into a pass-first team. Three times over the next four years, the Panthers threw the ball more than they ran it. And three times over the next four years, the Panthers missed the playoffs.
The one time Carolina qualified for the postseason during that four-year stretch was also the one time they had more runs (487) more than passes (449). That was 2005, when the Panthers went 11-5.
The Panthers started four different quarterbacks in 2007 and, despite some unsteady arms, still passed the ball more than they ran it. Carolina couldn't trust its lead runner, DeShaun Foster, who fumbled seven times.
So the Panthers cut Foster in the off-season and traded up into the first round last April to grab the best run blocker in the draft, mountainous Jeff Otah of Pittsburgh.
Carolina used first-round draft picks on running backs in both 2006 (DeAngelo Williams) and 2008 (Jonathan Stewart). Now the Panthers are one of only six teams running the ball (247) more than they are passing it (231). They have an NFC South-leading 6-2 record to show for their renewed commitment to the running game.
TARHEEL TOM 
